I do have to hand it to Free so far. He's been playing pretty well besides some bad moments in the Giants game. I have been routinely impressed with Tyron, but Free is playing just as well. I'm still guarding against him going back into his suckage though. He went from being pretty good to terrible once he got his money. I still can't trust him unless he's threatened to get fired or something. lol

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"If you have one finger pointing at somebody, you have three pointing towards yourself."
~Nigerian Proverb

I do have to hand it to Free so far. He's been playing pretty well besides some bad moments in the Giants game. I have been routinely impressed with Tyron, but Free is playing just as well. I'm still guarding against him going back into his suckage though. He went from being pretty good to terrible once he got his money. I still can't trust him unless he's threatened to get fired or something. lol

If I'm not mistaken, the OL didn't commit a single penalty yesterday. Kudos to all of them!

After Poe caused so much problems in KC, I was worried about Brockers. Brockers was pretty quiet overall. Remember that whole Brockers vs Poe debate? I was so much for Brockers and hated Poe. Too early to say "Oops"?

Luckily Jerry pulled off the Claiborne heist!

Mo had a great bounce back game. That PI call... I didn't agree with the refs at all.

If I'm not mistaken, the OL didn't commit a single penalty yesterday. Kudos to all of them!

After Poe caused so much problems in KC, I was worried about Brockers. Brockers was pretty quiet overall. Remember that whole Brockers vs Poe debate? I was so much for Brockers and hated Poe. Too early to say "Oops"?

Luckily Jerry pulled off the Claiborne heist!

Mo had a great bounce back game. That PI call... I didn't agree with the refs at all.

Haha. I remember that. Nobody thought they'd get Mo. Even right before people, and when I say 'people' I mean me, were like, "I guess they're really going after a safety this time. I'm glad Mo played well. I really think that he's getting close to shining, but he's just off by a little now. He plays the ball well, it's just a matter of getting those picks.

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"If you have one finger pointing at somebody, you have three pointing towards yourself."
~Nigerian Proverb

Jerry's master plan, to deal with team deficiencies by hiring superior coaches, is actually bearing tangible, measurable fruit. In Kiffin's scheme, Rod Marinelli is able to take players off the NFL scrap heap and "coach em up" to a level where they are viable parts of a winning line. Not just "ok", but productive parts of a dangerous unit.

Everyone's longtime favorite Cowboys Nick Hayden, Jerome Long, David Carter, Caesar Rayford, Edgar Jones and George Selvie are the proof. We don't have to point at Hatcher and state "wow, he is having a great year, must be coaching!" Nor are we looking at DeMarcus Ware and noting his incredible camp and start to the year. Everyone knows those are two talented guys. It's nice to see them responding so quickly in a first year system, but these two were going to do well as a minimum. We also don't have to point to one guy, say George Selvie and make a leap of faith to assume that the coaching is what got us that "one" guy. Nope, I'm talking about six players that were not on any pundit or fans radar on draft day, free agent day or ground hog day. Not one, but (count 'em) six. One is luck. Two is really lucky. Three is the beginning of a trend. Four is very hard to explain. Five is a fistful and six is a new reality. Six means this is not smoke and mirrors. Six is a number that allows you to slap the "legitimate" label on the whole exercise.

Its a shame he'll be a DC somewhere else next year. Wish we could keep him for a few years

Kiffin believes Marinelli has a knack for coaching cast-offs like George Selvie

The Cowboys got another sack out of George Selvie, a defensive end plucked off the street during training camp to help the Cowboys just have enough bodies for practice.

Selvie has turned into a starter and contributor. His sack against the Rams on Sunday was his third in three games.

Defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said defensive line coach Rod Marinelli has a way of squeezing something out of the players he’s given.

“You know, he did it with Greg Spires, who was cut twice, on the Super Bowl team in 2002. Simeon Rice was let go by the Arizona Cardinals. You just never know. And Nick Hayden is the example at nose tackle, playing his tail off,” Kiffin said. “These are guys who were cut by other teams. I think one of them was home watching the sitcoms or something on the couch. I love coaching guys like that. Rod and I both do. We love taking guys like that – free agents, whether it be draft picks coming out of college or let go by other teams. We definitely look at people like that.”

Kiffin said Marinelli also has a way of getting top performance from top players like DeMarcus Ware and Jason Hatcher. He said Marinelli has a meticulous style of preparing players.

“When players get a chance to play for Coach Marinelli, it’s an unbelievable experience,” Kiffin said. “He shows tapes and tapes and goes through every single move they can make and how to set it up, read the blocks, read the back and the whole bit. And they went out, and they executed it.”

Miles Austin, Brandon Carr and Anthony Spencer are being sued by the parents of a 13 year old who almost drowned while participating at a football camp over the summer. Hopefully this blows over and doesn't interfere with them on game days.

Anyone know if Miles is expected to miss much time with the hamstring injury?

I'd like to see us turn the page on Miles in the off-season, he's been solid and is well-liked in the locker room but with the injuries he's just not worth the price tag.

And pretty cool we signed Nevis, I liked him at LSU. Hopefully Marinelli can work that magic.

Not supposed to be serious. It's probably sore, but I wouldn't doubt it if the Cowboys find a way to make Austin a big part of the gameplan. Using this news as a means to cover up, we might be able to get the Chargers into not thinking about him. If they focus on Dez too much, Austin could take advantage.

As for his price tag, yeah it ain't pretty, but he's still a threat imo. But we need to keep our options open as far as using him as trade bait in the offseason.

Last Monday night, I had the good fortune of being invited by Brad Sham to sit in with him and DeMarco Murray on The Cowboys Hour radio show from the Gaylord Texan Hotel. Murray has always been a quiet guy to me, and on that night he didn't say very much. But you could see in his body language that he was hurting from the game played the previous day against the Chiefs.

Murray wasn't physically hurting, but you could tell that the problems that the offense had that day running the ball were weighing on him. As I prepared to get ready for this matchup against the Rams, the opportunity to sit with Murray had me thinking that he was going to play this game with a huge chip on his shoulder. If Murray was going to have to carry this team running the ball, he was going to do it. There was no doubt about it to me.

After studying the Kansas City game, I just felt that head coach Jason Garrett and offensive coordinator Bill Callahan would have to become more creative in the way they set up plays in the running game. It was not that I was against the zone scheme, but to just try and stretch the defense and make a cut was not going to help this offense consistently rush the ball.

The game plan from Garrett and Callahan against the Rams was outstanding from the opening snap, and the execution was just as flawless. Murray ran with a purpose, but in front of him, his teammates gave him room to operate. The offensive line and tight ends were able to get their hats on hats this week, whereas last week those same blocks resulted in a defender standing in the hole or running Murray down from the backside.

Callahan called the type of game that played to the strength of his blockers. There were more creative runs. He ran some traps and draws to take advantage of the Rams’ aggressive front four. He put his offensive linemen and tight ends in position to have success on their blocks. He kept his offense in favorable down-and-distance situations, which led to a better mix of plays. He took advantage of all his weapons, keeping the Rams off balance on defense throughout the game.

I will always believe that the strength of this Cowboys offense is throwing the ball to Dez Bryant, Miles Austin and Jason Witten, but running the football gives them the balance Jason Garrett strives for. As we observed today, the mix of run and pass is clearly the team’s best opportunity for success. How they execute in those areas will always tell the story, as it did on this Sunday afternoon against the Rams.

Miles Austin, Brandon Carr and Anthony Spencer are being sued by the parents of a 13 year old who almost drowned while participating at a football camp over the summer. Hopefully this blows over and doesn't interfere with them on game days.

No lie. PFF has Doug Free rated as the highest rated Tackle in the NFL.

Let's keep our fingers crossed. If he continues to play at this high level, Jerry might actually save face on deciding not to cut him in June. A move that WE ALL wanted.

That write-up form Broaddus was great stuff, thank for that. But I've been thinking about Free here lately. I think even last game I forgot he was playing which is always a good thing. No penalties(that I remember), he didn't give up a sack after 2 seconds, etc. Then again, we aren't being stupid and doing 7 step drops over and over, but still, he was facing Chris Long quite a bit and he didn't make 1 slip-up to piss me off.

I don't know how long it'll last but it was nice for a change. Crazy PFF has him rated that high. I'm probably going to re watch the game and focus on just him, and Wilcox on the other side of the ball to see what else I may have missed.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Wright

I guarantee that if someone picks Cam Newton in the Top 5 they will regret it.

Kiffin believes Marinelli has a knack for coaching cast-offs like George Selvie

The Cowboys got another sack out of George Selvie, a defensive end plucked off the street during training camp to help the Cowboys just have enough bodies for practice.

Selvie has turned into a starter and contributor. His sack against the Rams on Sunday was his third in three games.

Defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said defensive line coach Rod Marinelli has a way of squeezing something out of the players he’s given.

“You know, he did it with Greg Spires, who was cut twice, on the Super Bowl team in 2002. Simeon Rice was let go by the Arizona Cardinals. You just never know. And Nick Hayden is the example at nose tackle, playing his tail off,” Kiffin said. “These are guys who were cut by other teams. I think one of them was home watching the sitcoms or something on the couch. I love coaching guys like that. Rod and I both do. We love taking guys like that – free agents, whether it be draft picks coming out of college or let go by other teams. We definitely look at people like that.”

Kiffin said Marinelli also has a way of getting top performance from top players like DeMarcus Ware and Jason Hatcher. He said Marinelli has a meticulous style of preparing players.

“When players get a chance to play for Coach Marinelli, it’s an unbelievable experience,” Kiffin said. “He shows tapes and tapes and goes through every single move they can make and how to set it up, read the blocks, read the back and the whole bit. And they went out, and they executed it.”

Hope we've done the same thing here with Drake Nevis. Scott just compared Will Sutton to Drake Nevis. haha

First thing is I heard them talking about Selvie on the radio and a scout was talking about Selvie saying physically he could always do everything, and still can. He was out there thinking too much, not reacting, and was struggling with the mental part of the game. They think they are giving him less to think about now and just go play, Marinelli did something right.

Makes me want to go get more castoffs. Didn't Maybin get cut again? What about Sedric Ellis or Omobi Okoye? Not like I'd expect anything but we need to be bringing in as many bodies on the D-line as possible while Marinelli is still here. He won't be here forever but I'd love to get a few more guys to develop while he is.

As for Nevis, he's the type of guy I'm talking about. Top DT prospect in the 2011 draft, really we need the depth anyway, but lets get some guys who had a high ceiling and see what we can find. Ernie Sims is another castoff who looks good in this scheme and could fill in as needed.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Wright

I guarantee that if someone picks Cam Newton in the Top 5 they will regret it.